December IPO Slowdown: JOBS Act to Blame?

December is traditionally a busy month for IPOs. In the last three Decembers, there was an average of 13 deals, according to financial data tracking firm Dealogic. In fact, only once since 1993, in 2008, have there been no IPOs in December.

Though two November IPOs by Alon USA and YY Inc. pushed 2012's deal count to 120 (surpassing last year’s 116 deals), there are no more scheduled IPOs as of now.

"There's nothing on the calendar. It looks like—unless some company suddenly files something quickly—it's going to be well into December before we see the next deal," Investor-advisory firm IPO Boutique’s Scott Sweet told the Wall Street Journal.

This could be due to the newly relaxed rules on public filings under the JOBS Act.

The new rules allow companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to file their financial documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissions in private--some investors have dubbed these deals "confidential IPOs" or even "secret IPOs".

The paperwork can remain unseen by the public until 21 days before the IPO presentation series known as a roadshow.

According to market-intelligence firm Ipreo, 36 companies filed IPO documents with the SEC or updated their filings in the last six months. The companies seek to raise a combined $9.7 billion, the smallest amount since August 2009.